Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Quiet Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d3
The Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Quiet Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C94, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d3. It is a line of the Ruy Lopez. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 7 times by this move order. White won 29%, 28% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 10… Nbd7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 10… Nbd7 11. Nbd2 a5 12. Bc2 c5 13. a4)
- ECO
- C94
- Moves
- 19 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/2p1bppp/p2p1n2/1p2p3/4P3/1BPP1N1P/PP3PP1/RNBQR1K1 b - - 0 10- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 7 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10… Nbd7 | 7 (100%) |
Master games
145 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 36%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2707) – GM Yangyi Yu (2760) 1/2-1/2 · China vs World Team 2018 · 2018-04-09
- GM David Anton Guijarro (2651) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2791) 1-0 · 21st European Teams · 2017-10-30
- GM Nigel D Short (2688) – GM Bassem Amin (2680) 1/2-1/2 · 24th Abu Dhabi Masters · 2017-08-22
- GM Onischuk, V. (2637) – GM Vladislav Kovalev (2649) 0-1 · Tal Memorial Rapid 2019 · 2019-07-17
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2757) – GM James Tarjan (2525) 1-0 · PokerStars IoM Masters 2014 · 2014-10-05
Search all games of the Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense, Quiet Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- alchemikal69 (2336) – ScalelessStockfish (2417) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Baryshev (2374) – wojtek76 (2281) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 3s
- skoobi666 (2265) – Koroleva_tantspola (2282) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Ruy Lopez: Closed, Breyer Defense (9. h3 Nb8) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8
More Ruy Lopez lines (all)
- Ruy Lopez C60
- Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Alapin Defense, Alapin Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Brentano Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Bulgarian Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense, Paulsen Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Cozio Defense, Tartakower Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Fianchetto Defense C60
- Ruy Lopez: Fianchetto Defense, Kevitz Gambit C60
- Ruy Lopez: Lucena Variation C60
- Ruy Lopez: Nürnberg Variation C60
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.